Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for September 04, 2015

Does Calvin actually consider himself civil?

And did it ever occur to you, Mom, that that poor sales rep is only trying to do his or her job and would be written up and eventually fired if he or she took your first “no” for an answer? Sales reps are required to make at least two strong efforts before accepting “no” — and they’re not allowed to terminate the call unless they’re being subjected to verbal abuse and profanity. Maybe if you did a bit of the hell that is telemarketing for a while, you’d understand and learn to be a little more patient and polite when they call trying to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads the only way they can.

telephone salespeople can be way too pushy !!!

Just hang up. Or set the phone on the table and walk away. Let them talk, it’s on their dime. You don’t have to listen.

As I recall, Calvin has effectively dealt with telemarketers in the past, even without profanity. Plus, I find it hard to believe that a 6 year old doesn’t know any swear words. He may not know ALL of them, or even the “best” ones, but I’ll wager he has a passing familiarity with a few.

You think the sales pitches are bad now, just wait until next year when the ever annoying political calls arein full swing. Thats when you’ll learn how to just hang up or let the go to the answering machine first.

thank you for the call and would you please #$% $%# $%&# up your #$! @#!% and %$# please….thankyou..and have a nice day….

It is not our responsibility to ensure they keep their jobs.

Do yourself, and the caller, a favor and just hang up quickly. It saves time for both of you.

I’m so thankful for caller ID. Don’t recognize the name or number, let it go to voicemail. They almost never leave a message. .I do get more annoyed at those who fake the caller ID to some fake charity or innocent business a few hundred miles from me. .I laugh when the caller ID says I’m calling myself. That one, I think is the credit card phisher. Never leaves a message.

Hey, legaleagle, I guess you’re saying we should go straight to verbal abuse if nothing else is going to work.Nomorobo has cut down on recorded calls, but I still get some live ones.

I don’t answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number, problem solved.

Sometimes I go a bit mad on the cold-callers; I have been known to bark down the phone. Or I will cut into their spiel and say, “Wait, wait—I have a question!” Of course they think it’s about the product, so they say, “Go ahead!” and I say in a breathless, too-bright, too-loud voice: “Did you know Jesus died for your sins?”

Silence.

Silence.

Click.

And they don’t call back.

Nowadays I put it near a TV speaker, with the news on – perhaps they will learn something – and get a better job? Though I really doubt that, given the kind of responses we get when we try to clarify points with them, and it forces them off script!

I simply answer and hang up.

I always liked the “hand the phone to a 2 year old and tell them it’s Grandma” response…

Nothing worth buying is sold by telemarketers.If you have a landline and caller ID, get a Sentry 2 device and it will tell unknown callers that you don’t accept unsolicited calls.

That IS a real job to some people. It was to me for four years because I couldn’t get a job in my field at the time. If it makes you feel any better, I hated every minute of it!

It’s possible to be both civil and powerful— it just takes constant planning & vigilence. “I’m not interested so am going to hang up now. Good-bye.” “Surely your mother taught you not to use words like that— don’t embarras her.”

I used to sit patiently through both spiels, saying I wasn’t interested after each one. Then they started adding a third spiel trying to shame me for not wanting their product, and I started yelling NOT INTERESTED and hanging up as soon as they started talking. I’m not going to stay on the line and argue with somebody trying to take my money for something I certainly don’t need, probably don’t want, and might even be a scam. Even if it was something I wanted, I wouldn’t buy it from a telemarketer and lend credence to a profession that is basically the telephone version of spamming.

As for being the only job you can find, if the only job you could find was as a burglar, would you take that?

Unfortunately, most of my telemarketing calls are computer generated — “Hello. I’m Bridgett and I can lower your credit card interest rate.” I’ve gotten to the point that if I don’t recognize the area code, I don’t answer. My wife won’t let me do what I want to do with live telemarketers. I want to get a police-type whistle and blast’em when they start talking. She says we’d probably get sued. I say a broken eardrum couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.

Caller ID and a new number 2 years ago. Easy.

LeagleEagle….Question for you. Does ANYBODY EVER buy anything a cold caller offers them out of the blue? EVER? I find it hard to believe that anyone smarter than an average fence post would actually purchase something from a perfect stranger who made a phone call.

Apparently Pandora’s Box is wide open now…

I’m already afraid of talking on the phone, and bothering strangers. I was offered a telemarketing job once, and it sounds like the worst job ever.

As soon as they start in, I interrupt them with “I’m unemployed and have no money”, talking over them if necessary, and hang up. The do-not-call list has never worked for me, because they can still call you if you’ve ever done business with a parent company. You’d be surprised how many subsidiaries companies like AT&T and Comcast have. And when I stopped using AT&T and Comcast, they themselves started harassing me with twice-a-week “come back” calls for months.

Do not Call list does not apply to political campaigns – you didn’t think they’d actually pass a law that affects them negatively – nor does it apply to charities or certain non-profits.

Caller ID is my friend. If I don’t recognize the number, I don’t answer. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.

If I do get a call, I politely say, “Sorry, I’m not interested” and hang up.

Although sometimes I do like to play with them. I got a call telling me that I could save money on my credit card. So I asked them “Which one? Visa or American Express.” I got the response “both of them.” I told them I had neither of them and asked how they knew I could save money if they didn’t even know what cards I had.

Oh and I never answer the phone at dinner time no matter who is calling.

The Do Not Call list is probably the single most useless thing ever invented. I have filed countless complaints with DNC and never heard from them and the calls never diminished. I don’t even try any longer.

I civilly say “Not interested. Have you got any money for me?” …and hang up.

I interviewed for a call center job once. On my practice call I took the lady’s first “no” and hung up. The trainer was not happy about that and I said I didn’t want that job since I knew how I didn’t want those calls. I didn’t get it. I needed a job but not that bad.30+ Years ago I found a phone device that you just push the button and a voice says “this number doesn’t accept these calls and put this number on the do not call list.” then it automatically hangs up. Anytime I get a call I just push the button and hang up since the device will finish the message and disconnect when done. I love pushing the button on telemarketers!

They say all you have to do is say NO three times to a telemarketer. Sounds like Mom did that…………………………sorta!

It amazes me the number of you who complain about the lack of civility while being so uncivil yourselves. I appreciate the others who politely say, be polite and just hang up.

A fellow artist/writer in Hallmark Cards Contemporary Design Studio, a wit who would have been a Star on “Laugh In”, replied to a marketing call with: "please get off my line, the house is on fire, dog jumped through a window, toilet is overflowing, & I’m out of beer. 4 hours later the marketer called back to ask if he was OK. “No”, he replied, my frog croaked, & I have warts all over my……", & hung up.

Oh yes, forgot to mentioned this was in the early 60s, caller ID was not a common phone service.

How telemarketers knew I was diabetic never ceases to amaze me. Constant call to sell me diabetes stuff. Hello? I have a Dr!

Not where I live. They just call again later. I have discovered, though, that if a woman says “not interested” they will call back day after day. If a man says “not interested” it seems to carry more weight.

So much for equality.

I recently downloaded a call blocker on my Smartphone. It’s awesome!When I was on the switchboard at my Work Placement, I answered the phone in my professional voice only for an automatic voice to say “Hello. We have noticed you haven’t…”It’s a great feeling slamming the phone down!xxx

But hanging up is the 2nd most effective way of dealing with telemarketers—and religious proselytizers—. Best is not to answer the phone. It worked when I was filing for bankruptcy before the banks got the notice from my attorney. They called unceasingly, then hung up after my voicemail kicked in.

I just tell them that the guy they want to speak to passed away last week. After they express their sincere condolences, I ask them to update their records. It really works (except for the politicians).

Then how do you know the word swear words?

since my mobile is my only phone line, set it to ring to only the numbers on it’s contact list.. telemarketer problem solved!

I just don’t answer my phone anymore unless it goes to voicemail and they let me know who they are. There are many other ways to get ahold of me.

Scammers pay no attention to the Do Not Call list.After 5 years without a land line, my wife got one so a medical device could report to her doctor’s office. Within 36 hours, an old phone that had never been unplugged in a spare room rang. It was ADT Security trying to sell services to an apparent new resident. We had never told anyone the number (even I don’t know it) and had not been offered the option of having it be unlisted. After a few days of hearing the phone ring occasionally I unplugged it.I figured out how to enter numbers into my flip phone (which I also use for business) and now have 290 Junk numbers in about 3 years. I just hear a missed call beep once. I never answer an out-of-area code call. I Google the number to see if it is a scammer, and if I can determine that it isn’t a scammer, I will call back. 95% of the time it’s a scammer. The 800Notes site gives good info.

There should be a horror movie about solicitors.

Holy cow… 72 comments so far, and the day is not over! We may be approaching a new record here?

Apparently Pandora’s Box had some interesting content…

My son gets tired of the scammers who say they are from Microsoft, and they need to gain access to his computer to install some software because he has a virus, so he occasionally plays games with them. While he is occupied doing other things, he pretends to be trying to do what they tell him to do, and then says it isn’t working, claiming all sorts of things, and tries to see how long he can keep them on the phone. I think his record is 45 minutes, but at about at that point, he gets bored, and taunts them, saying, “you can’t seriously think I was going to give you access to my computer, you scammer”, and then hangs up.

In response to Calvin’s “swear words” comment …

Son of a monkey!

What I’m saying is, they don’t listen. They don’t pay attention. Kind of like someone else I know.

Simply hanging up is always an option. No telemarketer can waste your time without your cooperation.

In our experience the no-call list isn’t much help. Gina & I have had both the landline & our cells on it for several year but we still get the robocalls.

yup it occured to me